A real-life Jurassic Park may not be possible

Will the dinosaurs even be brought back from extinction ? Image Credit: CC BY-SA 3.0 Scott Robert Anselmo

Scientists have played down the idea that dinosaur DNA can be extracted from insects preserved in amber.

With anticipation for the latest upcoming installment in the Jurassic Park franchise, "Jurassic World", reaching fever pitch, attentions have turned once again to whether or not it would actually be possible to bring the dinosaurs back in real-life using the method outlined in the original movie.

While DNA has been recovered from preserved mammoth specimens dating back thousands of years, retrieving DNA from insects trapped in amber over millions of years is something that scientists have been struggling to achieve.

In a recent study, researchers at the University of Manchester attempted to recover DNA from insects preserved in amber using DNA sequencing techniques. Due to the age of the specimens however the task proved futile, there simply wasn't any recoverable DNA left for them to extract.

"Intuitively, one might imagine that the complete and rapid engulfment in resin, resulting in almost instantaneous demise, might promote the preservation of DNA in a resin entombed insect, but this appears not to be the case," said Dr David Penney. "So, unfortunately, the Jurassic Park scenario must remain in the realms of fiction."

My thoughts were on this line too. What are the chances of this really?
It was a good idea to be used in making a film, but so was Batman and Robin.
But somewhere out there, there may well be an amber encased insect which dined on the carcass of dino, but would guess it would be like looking for a bat in a giant cave after your torch batteries have run out.

I appreciate the curiosity aspect and the advances in science should we be able to achieve the resurrection but I feel the energy would be better spent on current investigations into wildlife survival and so many more discoveries that I'm sure are out there just waiting

Before many days i saw a documentary where they said it is not possible to get Dinosaur DNA that easily like shown in the movie Jurassic Park. Anyway,i never beleived that they could bring back a Dinosaur.

They could still make dinosaurs by taking the closest extant relatives (birds, I think) and tricking out their DNA. Of course, even if it looked very much like we think it should, it would not be the real thing, but for the sake of an amusement park it would work find.

They could still make dinosaurs by taking the closest extant relatives (birds, I think) and tricking out their DNA. Of course, even if it looked very much like we think it should, it would not be the real thing, but for the sake of an amusement park it would work find.